Demented Holidays
by Loveless Loner
Summary: Everyone loves the Holidays right? A time for spending with family, enjoying yourself with them as well. That's not how it is at the North Pole, or at least not with Steve. Slight use of bad language.
1. Murder At The North Pole

The whole mission had gone perfect! Every gift had been delivered, in a timely manner as well, and he took care of the whole 'waker with Santa in there' bit as well and then, his father goes and says he isn't handing the reigns over. Every Santa does 70 missions then passes it on to his son. Well everyone besides Malcolm, his father. Sitting at the dinner table with his family he was going threw his text. Deleting all of the ones from Peter which seemed to be the only ones he had, a few from random elves congratulating him on doing such a good job and few for vitamins or something like that? He was getting ready to just click delete all when he noticed there was one from Abby. Opening it he read threw,

'_Hi Steve, just wanted to wish you a happy Christmas. I know you said you were busy, so I am sorry if this bothers you. Just wanted to say hi though. Miss you. I'll text you before I go to bed to so if you get this before then and have time you can text about whatever.'_

It was an odd text to get from Abby, he sat there thinking about it. Until Grand-Santa spit his teeth out splashing something onto his face, Steve blinked a second before wiping it off and going threw more texts planning on texting Abby back if she wasn't asleep before dinner was over. But he did hear what was going on now,

"Forget Techno Tommy. He's texting on his calculator after another job." Steve let out a sigh, if he was going to mock him he should at least do it right.

"It's a Handheld Operational and Homing Organizer. The HOHO 3000." he replied without even looking up. "I'm enacting mission closure." his tone was bored,

"Aren't you the fancy Nancy? Don't matter what you come up with. You may be next in line, but you'll never get to be Santa unless you knock him off." That made Steve look up shocked at his Grandfather, then he looked over to his father to see if he had heard the same thing, seeing the shock on his fathers face meant he had heard it right. He could see the shock on his mothers face as well. Arthur took that moment to try and break the tension in the air.

"I got you all a present!" He declared gaining the attention of everyone in the room. Seeing he had everyone attention he continued on, "After all the hard work, I wanted everyone to have some Christmas fun." He reached under the table and pulled out Christmas the board game. Steve just stared at him for a moment before going to object, until he saw the look his mother gave him. Sighing he just sat there and waited, even helped got the board out and placed down right on the table, so Grand-Santa would be able to see it easier. The man was over a hundred years old. After doing that he grabbed the Santa piece, if he couldn't be Santa in real life he wanted to be him in the game at least. That is until Grand-Santa tried to take it.

"I'm Santa!" he yelled pulling on it,

"No, no, I'm Santa. It's ridiculous." Steve countered pulling it closer to himself trying to not hurt the old man in the process of getting the piece back. "You just took the piece out of my hand."

"Well, I am actually Santa," His father started, pouring salt in the fresh wound. "so I think I should have it." He smiled while taking it away from the other two completely. Steve sat down pissed,

"Yes. You're the non-executive figurehead." Steve huffed out grabbing his HOHO and starting a text to his girlfriend.

"Exactly!" His father agreed, Steve shook his head, _He doesn't even know I insulted him, and he is the one who gets to be Santa!_ He yelled in his mind, "Figurehead."

"It means a fatty with a beard who fits the suit." Grand-Santa explained with a cheeky grin on his face. _Even the old man knew I was insulting father._

'_Hey. You still awake? It's been hectic around here.'_ He pressed send and looked back up at Arthur,

"The other pieces are good too." He tried to defuse the situation, "Or I can make extra Santa's for everyone." They all just raised a brow at him.

"Why don't you be the candle, Steve?" His father asked holding up said piece, "All those bright ideas, eh?" His father smiled wiggling the piece a bit and Steve took it with a tight lip.

"Fine, I'm the candle, Arthur's the turkey and you, Father, are, of course, Santa." He said threw his tight lips before relaxing them to take a stab at Grand-Santa as well, "Grand-Santa, you can be this charming relic." Steve handed over the old sleigh.

"Relic?" He asked shock on his face, "Relic?" His voice went a bit deeper, "I did the whole of Christmas in one of these, Arthur." With the amazement clear on Arthur's face he went one, "Oh, yes. I didn't need a trillion elves in bleepy hats." Steve checked his phone, Abigail had responded,

'_Yeah I'm up for now. You okay or is it just busy hectic? What are you up to now?'_ Quickly he typed back,

'_Got sucked into a Christmas game with my family. Just busy hectic really. Was one frantic part but, I got everyone threw it with ease. Little mad about the results from it though.'_

"We don't go flying about," He picked up the rule book scanning a few pages, "throwing lead painted toys down chimneys anymore." He looked up and grinned grabbing the 'relic' piece, "That space sends you back to Lapland." His mother came out of the room with her jacket and sewing kit in hand,

"Malcolm, where did you get those?" She asked looking down at the extra pieces, he sat up straighter looking down at them and Grandsanta and Steve looked over at him accusingly.

"Just moving things along. Do I win?"

"Cheats, the pair of you! Christmas has gone right down the Rodney hold. You're a postman with a spaceship." Grandsanta accused pointing his boney finger at Steve. He stood up with his hands on the table pressing his index finger down with the point he made,

"My S-1 festivezed the world at 1,869 times the speed of sound." Grandsanta stood up as well mimicking his posture to the best of his ability.

"Christmas 1941, World War II did the whole thing with six reindeer and a drunken elf!" Steve rolled his eyes and sat back down, no one would understand what he was going threw here. He felt his HOHO vibrate. Quickly retrieving it from his pocket he read,

'_Well you got everyone threw it. I'm really sorry Steve but, I'm getting ready to start working and I need to focus on this part. Send me text's if you want just know that's why I won't be responding quickly.' _Steve let out a sigh,

'_I'll just talk to you in the morning okay? Don't work to much, you need sleep. See you in a few days.'_

"Goodness now, "Christmas crackers. Sing 'Silent Night' backwards." His mother read off a card,

"Who'd know that?" His father asked, Steve just raised a brow at her thinking the same thing when Arthur quickly smacked the tree bell and sang out some gibberish to them. Giving Arthur yet another look Steven just went back to the conversation,

"I went on alone." Grand-Santa said with conviction, "I could still do it now, Arthur." He smiled at his youngest Grandson. "Just give me a go!" Steven raised a brow at him with a smirk on his face not being able to help the next comment.

"In a heap of sticks." His father started laughing but, Grand-Santa lost his smile,

"Let me up and at him!" He yelled grabbing his cane, "I'll show you, Robby the Robot!" He flipped the board game messing up all of the pieces, flinging them to the other side of the room. Feeling his HOHO go off again he almost would of smiled thinking it was from Abigail until he saw it wasn't, a look of shock covered his face as he practically ran from the room, shutting the doors behind himself. Looking down at his phone with worry he made his way to the Operational Area.

"Steve!" He heard his younger brother call, "Steve! Don't be upset look!" Arthur called finally catching up to his older brother. "You keep this," He said revealing the Santa piece he had been fighting for not that long ago. "Then you can be Santa next time." Steve took it and looked at it confused, this was not going to fix anything, it was just a piece of a board game. "That'll be you there, Steve." Arthur pointed behind him, he turned to look just seeing the wall, "Next year I bet." He took a deep breath, "You'll be great." He smiled at his brother, Steve just looked at Arthur then behind him to all the open doors, not knowing how to do mushy stuff with his family, or anyone that well really he decided to brush it off while turning around.

"How many times, Arthur? It's the North Pole. Shut the doors." He said with an exasperated voice going threw the next door.


	2. Distressing News

Walking into Central Command he was met with his assistant, Peter, and another nameless elf he didn't know that well.

"I secured the gift, sir. Gift secured!" She said with a slightly high pitched voice,

"This just can't be." Steve said looking at her, "The system is foolproof." His voice was still disbelieving,

"It has to be an error, sir." Peter said motioning to the female elf.

"Error?" Steve parroted back, still confused.

"I spotted the ribbon glinting in the shadows. I am actually trained in wrapping." She started to go on. "And I said to myself, "Bryony, the wrapping looks okay. Thank goodness." The now named Bryony proclaimed with a smile on her face, before it was replaced with a more serious look, "but that present should not be lying in the-" She was cut off with a hand raised,

"Thank you, soldier." He just needed a minute to think,

"Has someone got the wrong present? That's awful." Arthur said slipping on the ice,

"No one get's the wrong present." Peter said walking over to a computer,

"Whose is it?" Arthur asked following him,

"47785BXK, "Gift undelivered"?" He asked with a shocked face, Arthur pulled in a little closer,

"They got nothing?" Peter shrugged his shoulders at Arthur just as confused as Steve now, "A child's been missed!" Arthur yelled, Steve held up his hands trying to reign in control of the situation.

"Not necessarily." He started in his explanation, he was however interrupted by the computer count down resetting itself and showing a simple 1. Arthur yelled and pointed,

"A child's been missed!" Steve scoffed and looked over at his brother,

"Wanna wake up the North Pole?" He asked rhetorically,

"Good idea. A child's been missed!" He went screaming down the pathway to go wake up everyone.

"Arthur!" Steve yelled at him, before letting out a sigh hearing his father come in.

"Everything all right?" He asked while yawning, quickly Steve tried to use his body to shield the present from his fathers eyes, if word got out about this he would never get to be Santa.

"There's been a glitch." He tried to start out only to have Arthur come in and grab the gift showing it to their father,

"A glitch? We've missed a child!" Arthur said pushing it in front of Steve who tried to elbow him back gently,

"Really? Dear, oh, dear." Santa said walking up and looking around at everything, "That's awful." Steve tried to run in front of him again, vainly trying to stop his father from seeing anymore. "How did you let it happen, Steven?" He dropped his hands done with trying to block his view, how could he just, it wasn't like he was Santa.

"How did I- ? I thought it was your mission." He threw back at him, Santa got that smile on his face,

"No, this is your department."

"What'll we do?" Arthur asked looking back and forth in between the two. Santa held up his finger,

"We must- We must-" His face lost the smile and took on a confused look, "What must we do, Steven?" He asked turning back to his son.

"There's nothing to do. The mission was a success." He tried again,

"We can't leave a child out of Christmas." Arthur jumped out from behind their father, wanting to let out a growl he started walking over to Peter.

"Sunrise at destination," he watched Peter quickly type away and then motion to the screen once he had made the very short trip over to it. "is 7:39 a.m. There's no way to get there in time." He motioned to the screen as well to help prove his point. "Except, of course, for the S-1." He added as an after thought.

"The S-1. Right-o." His father smiled starting to walk off,

"No!" Steven yelled to stop him, "The S-1 has just traveled 7 million miles." He threw his hands down. "We could damage it!" Santa's eyes grew in size

"Oh, dear."

"And risk the lives of the elves," He said motioning down hoping that the little female elf would take the hint. Peter played along perfectly, she how ever did not.

"I'll go, sir!" She quipped, "Bryony Shelfley Wrapping Division. Grade 3, sir." Peter let go of the act and glared at the she-elf.

"Who asked you?"

"I wasn't called up for field duty. I served out my mission in Gift Wrap Support. I wrapped 264,000 presents in three days, sir. If you want that bike delivered in a perfect state," Steve looked down to see Peter mocking her, "of enwrapement, then I'm your elf." She finished enthusiastically.

"No one is going. It's impossible." Steve put his foot down. They were not going to wreck _his_ S-1.

"But this child-" Santa was interrupted by Peter,

"It's a margin of error of 0.00000001514834 percent, sir." He said showing the HOHO he did his math on to Steve, who gained a smiled,

"I mean, hello? Where's the champagne? My department has delivered the most outstanding Christmas ever." He motioned to the graph on his HOHO, still smiling. His father adopted the smile as well,

"Well done, us." Steve wanted to roll his eyes, of coarse when ever there was a problem or something was wrong it was his fault wasn't it?

"But there's a child without a present." Arthur gloomfully stated looking at then both with disappointed eyes,

"Arthur, Christmas is not a time for emotion." He tried to adopted an upset face, even though he was pleased he had smoothed it over so no one would find out, "We will get 4 double 7 85BXK a present within the window of Christmas." He tried to smooth it over with Arthur now, trying to convey he was serious. "We'll messenger the item. It'll be there in five days."

"But that'll ruin the magic." Steve walked over and patted his brothers shoulder,

"If there was any way at all to make the drop tonight," He walked off a bit while raising his hands, still looking at him, "But it can't be done."

"Your brother knows about these things. I won't sleep easy after this, Arthur, but there it is. Can't be done." His father said looking Arthur straight in the eyes with a forlorn look before walking off with Steven.


	3. Extraterrestrial Christmas Eve

Slowly Steven made his way back to his wing of the place. Quietly he hung his suit back up and put it in a protective covering.

"Well looks like it will have to wait until next year." He let out a sigh finishing zipping it up. He turned away and just stood in his giant walk in closet, the lights went out with the computerized female voice stating,

"Lights out." He let out a sigh and walked over to his bed, debating on texting Abigail or not he eventually decided against it. Picking up a book he started to read it until his eyes grew heavy, picking up his phone he was going to text her goodnight or something stupidly sweet that she would love, until he was interrupted by falling asleep.

Steve opened his eyes to see that he was standing in the S-1's cockpit at the reigns. He looked around quickly seeing all of the elves there as well.

"Steve? What are you waiting for? You can't have Christmas with out Santa." Abigail said from behind him, he turned around to see her in a skimpy Santa outfit, smiling at him. He looked down at himself to see he was wearing his suit.

"What are you doing here Abby?" He asked turning back around to take control of the S-1, "You know you're supposed to wait at home." She hugged him from behind pressing herself against his back.

"I didn't want to wait to see you though." She purred into his ear, "It's Christmas, I wanted to sit on Santa's lap." He could hear the grin in her voice. He grinned as well,

"Abby, we can't do this here in front of them." He motioned around to all the elves, which were now no longer there. He turned his questioning gaze to her,

"I sent them away. The S-1 has auto pilot." She shrugged smiling up at him.

"We promised mother to be home as early as possible." He smiled down at her, she was just a head shorter than him.

"The elves can take care of just a few cities." She moved her arms to wrap them around his neck and pull him down, "It won't take long for me to tell you what I want." Steve picked her up and moved them both to the closest chair.

"Alright you can tell Santa what you want but, you have been a _very_ naughty girl." He grinned as she slowly trailed her hands down to his pants.

A loud noise and vibration woke Steve up out of his wonderful dream. Grunting he answered it,

"Hello?" He cleared his throat quickly, "What elf?" Quickly switching the call over the bedside screen he saw Peter,

"Bryony Shelfley, sir. The crazy wrapping elf, you know?" He made hand gestures to prove how crazy she was. "Security tracked her to Sector 19, and we think Arthur was here."

"Arthur?" Steve asked sitting on the side of his bed,

"Who else leaves the door open, huh, sir?" He asked revealing that a door, _the door_, to the outside was wide open.

"The old sleigh barn?" He asked standing up, "That was sealed up decades ago, after that terrible night Grand-Santa sneaked out and," He let out a shuttered breath before sitting down on the end of his bed, "Thank goodness he's too old these days to get into trouble."

"What do you wish to do, sir?" Peter asked,

"Get me the security footage from the sleigh barn and bring it to the Command Center." Steve let out a sigh ending the call and putting the book back on its shelf. Making his way down the hallways he pulled out his HOHO again.

_Abby you still awake?_ He sent, needing someone to talk to. Someone that would understand his side, and care about it. As he opened the door to Command Center he felt it go off with a reply,

_Yeah, I'm stuck at this part. I give up, for now. What's up, besides you? :)_ He shook his head,

_A lot. Things went wrong earlier and more happened then I was made aware of. It's coming back to bite me in the butt now._ He let out a sigh while grabbing an espresso.

_Are you just on clean up duty or are you getting blamed for it all?_ She sent back fairly quickly he let out a sigh,

_Both_.

_Ick, double whammy. I'm sorry. Want to talk about it in more detail?_

_Still on clean up duty._ He took a drink before nodding to Peter. Watching it all on the giant screen he stopped his enjoyment of the hot drink,

"The old sleigh. What is happening here?" He asked seeing it in reverse, slamming his cup down. "It was supposed to be chopped up," He walked away from Peter his voice getting louder, his movements getting sharper, "for firewood decades ago." He turned back to start pacing, "How did that devious-?" He cut himself off in his rant,

"Old people, sir." He sounded calm, "Shall I get you your stress ball?" Steve turned to glare at him, before raising a brow,

"We have a finer comms than the Pentagon, and you say we can't contact him," He looked up at the huge screen to see his brother with a stupid grin on his face. Like he was enjoying all this torment he was causing his brother, scratch that he probably was. Why else would he do all of this on Christmas eve to him, after everything else he has already gone threw as if it wasn't enough, "except by some ancient-" He was interrupted in his ranting monolog by an old voice calling out some old term used to gain attention,

"Here comes the cavalry!" His voice sounded even more ancient than his Grandfather's. Turning to the voice he looked down to see that Peter had followed him, sometimes it was convenient that the little elf followed him so relentlessly, other times it was a bit unnerving.

"Ernie Clicker, sir." This time it seemed to be informative,

"Head of Polar Communications for 46 missions!" The old elf called a smile on his wrinkled face, slowly he made his was towards them, "Oh, crikey blikey," Steve recognized that tone, it was the same one Grand-Santa had every time he was going to go on some long spiel about something he had done decades ago. "me and your granddad saw some times!" _Called it._ Steve thought to himself before quickly walking towards the ancient elf, "I remember once," Picking him up and setting him on the chair he interrupted not wanting to hear it,

"Wow, must catch up soon." His voice completely dismissive, "Now,"

"Oh, you're in a hurry. I can tell." Ernie looked up at him, as Peter pulled the wire away from him and pulled off the covering, blowing on it kicked up enough dust to not only choke himself but, Steve as well. The machine came to life shocking the old elf slightly,

"Oh this is ridiculous. Could we hurry this?" Steve asked being pushed to his limit. The old one turned to harass him some more it seemed,

"You can't rush the Signalator." He rubbed his hands up the keypad softly, "Got to play her gentle." Steve brought both of his brows up, out, and together as the elf whacked the Signalator. "So, what do you wish to say?" He turned his face back to the now whirling machinery. "I wouldn't worry. It's not like they're facing man-eating lions." Steve and Peter shared a look before Steve shook himself out of it.

"I need to know what they are thinking! I need to know where they are now!" Ernie typed away on his machine before sitting back and watching the little flags.

"You'll have to give it a minute, unlike all your fancy things today it takes a minute to get threw." Ernie smiled at them both before just sitting there. It had been a good 5 minutes so Steve checked his phone.

_Well, I am really sorry to hear that. After your done call me. Maybe I can take your mind off of it. At least for awhile._

"Oh!" Ernie called out distracting him from replying back, "Something's coming through." Steve bent back down to look at it closer,

"What does it say?" Ernie spoke a bunch of gibberish. Steve looked down at him then at Peter. "What?" He repeated,

"I don't know." Ernie said looking at the flags standing up, "Maybe they hit something and it bumped it out of place." He said pulling on a few of the flags. "Maybe if I," And he went to work trying to fix it.

"Try them again. Keep trying." Steve grumbled, "All this for one child. In 600 million." _No one ever cared if I got anything or not._ He moped to himself.

_I'll call when its done but, it seems like its going to take all night at this rate. More things keep going wrong._

"We should turn her of a mo." Ernie said looking back at them.

"Don't worry, sir. Children are stupid. Either it won't know it got missed or it'll think it's been bad. It's a win-win." Peter tried to calm him down. _but I wasn't bad._ Steve gloomed in his own mind.

"You missed one? A nipper? Cor!" Ernie started to laugh, "What's all this here for if you miss one?" Derailing the depressing train of thought for now he decided to focus on what needed to be done.

"Could you please type faster?" Ernie looked up at him with a sarcastic face,

"All right." He typed a few more words only to have the machine revolt against him. It flung a flag at Steve in anger and decided that it was done. Sending a shock to the main computer,

"Systems critical. Lead in Christmas." The computer rang out as all the lights started to go out quickly. Until the entire room was dark.

"Oops-a-daisy." Ernie proclaimed, Steve felt a small hand grab his,

"Peter," he let out in an air of annoyance, "let go of my hand, please."

"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir." Peter said while letting go of his hand quickly. His phone went off with a reply from Abigail, "And get me IT." He said while reading it,

_You could just take a break, let it calm down and call me? Besides isn't it your fathers company or what ever? I mean I know you do all the work but, seriously it's Christmas, we had a web date planned for later and everything._ Steve let a smile cross his face for just a moment.

_We had a date planned?_ He just pictured her squirming having let the cat out of the bag early.

_Did my phone put date? Because I typed web chat. Stupid auto-correct. Ha-ha._ He let out a chuckle.

_I'm not complaining. It will be a nice surprise. _

_ Speaking of surprises have you seen what's on the news? Aliens on Christmas, really?_ He looked confused at the text for a minute before turning his HOHO onto the news, what he watched astonished him.


	4. Defective Machinery

"We are online, sir." Steve turned to see a bird on his shoulder, shaking it off he went to go look at all the damage his family had done.

"No." He said watching as all the screens came to life showing different news channels all with the same thing on. "Two billion items delivered, and we didn't leave a footprint in the snow. And now-"

"Sir?" I timid elf called interrupting him for the, he lost count now, time. "We have lost 80 percent of our data." Steve turned to him looking at his screen, it read,

ERROR_CODE 14 LAST CHRISTMAS SAVED: 1981

"No, no. We have 18 pulse data reservoirs of a trillion terabytes!" The elf looked a tad scared,

"Sorry, auto-save was off."

"Shall I slap his, sir?" The elf let out a shocked noise, "Quite hard?" Peter grinned while holding up his hand.

"Sir," A female elf called his attention, "There's a polar bear on Level 6."

"Sir? Why is Arthur out there?"

"He missed one. A nipper. I mean 47785BXK." Ernie told them with a sarcastic smirk on his face. Steve looked up and let out a breath trying to remain calm. All the elves gasped, a seal made its way down the stairs and the damn bird pooped on his shoulder all in the span of 5 seconds. Steve just stared at his now ruined suit.

"Sir, we've got something. Bryony Shelfley, it's her HOHO." Steve jumped to the screen that read that.

"Call her. My number. Big screen." He growled out wanting to get this under control before even more people found out about it. After just a few short seconds the crazy elf answered it,

"Grand-Santa says he's not here."

"Hi. I'm looking for a missing relic." Steve decided to start it off. While holding his espresso.

"Steve, three words." His grandfather started,

"Is the first word "help"?" He handed his espresso to Peter.

"Yes!" Arthur replies relief and hope flooding his voice, "You can help us, Steve!"

"It was him!" Grand-Santa yells pointing to Arthur trying to get out of being in trouble more than likely. "Frosty the Madman. He forced me to come." Arthur looked at the old man confused, Steve already knew it had been Grand-Santa, he more than likely talked Arthur into going. "Elf, back me up if you want a career." He watched as Grand-Santa tried to weasel his way out of it.

"I forced you?" Arthur asked disbelief in his voice, pointing at Grand-Santa, with the reigns in his hands.

"You see? Look."

"What did you want, Grand-Santa? Let me guess." He stuck out his finger then brought his hand to his chin in mock thought, "Hmm." His arm crossed under the other, "A picture of you in the sleigh delivering the gift." His hand waved about as he talked, "to show me how it's really done?" He turned away from the screen not listening if the man was going to try and defend himself or not, "You know the picture they'll have tomorrow?" He rhetorically asked before dramatically turning and walking back towards the screen, "You, led away in handcuffs! The Santa who was seen." He raised his arms up motioning to everything around him, "By everybody on Earth! The Santa who ruined Christmas." Peter jumped up to be seen by the sleigh,

"Ruined it!" He parroted. He watched the screen as Grand-Santa pulled the reins away from Arthur,

"We'll fix this, Steve. We'll be back home in the wobble of a reindeer's buttocks." He called with a smile, "And Evie can go back in mothballs. You can forget she ever existed." He glanced over to Arthur to see the hurt and betrayal on his face.

"You can't just go home. What about Gwen?" He asked pulling the reins from his grandfather once again. For a moment Steve was touched, Arthur cared so much that this little girl got her present from Santa he went and faced most of his fears for her. _To bad no one cared like that when I was little. It does a kid good to have their hopes crushed at least once. _And with that his sour mood continued,

"Gwen. For that, you'd threaten my whole operation?"

"Steve, you said if there was any way to get there, you would." Arthur tried to reason with his brother. While fighting for control of the sleigh. "Well, this is it. Look." He stated with a smile grabbing the HOHO and showing him the sleigh, or at least what was left of it. "The old sleigh is perfect, uh," He stated picking up a piece from the back, "Right. Well, anyways, it goes really fast even with bits missing." He showed the control panel, then he turned it towards the reindeer, "And we've got quite a few reindeer left." The camera came back around to them, "And, if I'm sick again I could be sick in a bag." Arthur tried to reason still,

"I'll wrap him one." Bryony nodded happily from the back ground, Grand-Santa just looked at the screen wondering if Steve would go along with all of this.

"We can help them!"

"No one missed, sir!"All of the other elves started to agree, the holiday spirit seeming to consume them all.

"All correct presents, present and correct." Steve watched as all the screens went from the damage they had done to everything they could do, with his help of coarse,

"With your help Steve, we can do it!" Arthur encouraged even further, everyone turned to look at him. _Maybe I could, it wouldn't be so bad for every child to have a gift that they wanted would it? And besides I'm just cleaning up Fathers mess. They would have to see it – _his train of thought was interrupted though,

"Grand-Santa and Arthur would be the hero's of the night, sir!" The shattering glass is what broke it all, it broke the nice train of thought, it broke the possibility that maybe things could and would go right for once. It broke all of Steve's hopes of a happy Christmas as well.

"Come home now!" He ordered, "If we all just gave in to Christmas spirit, there'd be chaos."

"We're on our way, Steve."

"No!" Arthur yelled no willing to give it up, "Santa will want us to get to Gwen. Ask him. Please." He begged, Steve could see this was his last effort the last thing he had to fight with, a small smile was on his lips as he tried to figure out how to word it to his younger brother, it wasn't a smug smile, or even a happy one. It was one of those sad smiles, like you knew where this is going and you couldn't do anything else to stop it.

"Arthur this is Dad we're talking about. There was a time when he cared about every last gift tag, but now he just wants to be loved and get some rest." Steve knew he had won, there wasn't anything left to fight with now. Arthur had finally come to the conclusion that Steve had come to many years ago.

"No. He's lying awake, worrying his beard off about Gwen." Steve's face set in a firm line, his eyes showing how sad he actually felt about his little brother having to learn this lesson for himself, wishing it would have been in a less devastating manner but, it was something he had to learn. Quickly he pulled up their fathers number on his HOHO,

"Off to the land of nod. Please do not disturb until December 26th. Is that it, dear?"

"Yes, Press the red-" His mothers voice was cut off as his father presumably did as he was told. Steve hung up the phone looking at his brothers broken face, that seemed to be how everything was around the North Pole, at least to Steve.

"No," He sat back, "Santa's the most caring man in the world."

"So why are you here, not him?" Bryony asked her own voice close to breaking. Grand-Santa grabbed the reins and pulled knocking them all off the sleigh and promptly ending the call. Steve let out a sigh.


	5. Tight Moments

"Do we have a lock on where they fell?" It was just a few short minutes later when all the sudden he was being swarmed by elves. As far as he could gather one elf had told another and now a crazy back lash from the horrible game telephone was occurring,

"He's crazy!"

"Is there a list of children who don't matter?"

"Santa said they don't matter 100 percent." He was going to kill his father, turning to address the general direction of the one who had talked to him he was inturputed yet again,

"Is it true children aren't real, they're just antimatter?" _Where the hell is all of this coming from?!_ Steve screamed in his head, Steve tried shushing them all,

"Do not- Look. Look!" He yelled over everyone having had enough of it all, "I festivised every single country in the world. You see?" _Why can't anyone see what I did right tonight? Instead of one little mistake that wasn't even mine to make! _Peter handed him a pad and he swiped it across showing different countries, "This one, this one, this one. All of them. I mean, who cares about one single tiny child?" He asked before thinking about it, they all gasped and Steve looked to see his father coming in as well, "I do." He tried to cover quickly, He watched as his father walked threw the throngs of elves.

"Arthur." He stated looking at all of the screens, "My poor boy. Why on earth would he-? You're his brother, Steve. How could you let him?" Steve wanted to yell then, he wanted to scream, even when he tried to get his brother to come back home not having known he had even left in the first place it was still his fault. Was everything going to be his fault? "And about this child you missed, I'm really not sure you made the right decision." _Apparently it is going to be all my fault. Of coarse it is you can't have a Santa that makes mistakes now can you._ "Is that bird doo on your shoulder?" His father asked looking at his right shoulder,

"Right." Steve stated walking off towards the door, "Over there is Satellite, Tracking, Navigation, Data Analysis." He stated pointing each one off for his father while carrying the pad and himself with what dignity he had left towards the doors. "Coffee machine's by the door. Good night, Santa." He practically spat the word out, before signing the first Christmas song that came to mind. As soon as the doors shut he pulled out his HOHO and dialed Abigail's number,

"Hello?" Her voice asked, "Steve are you okay? I tried texting you like 6 times. What happened?" Steve let a smile come over his face, at least one person cared.

"I'm alright physically but, not so much with everything else. How are you?"

"Steve what happened? I thought it was just a little mess to clean up but, it's been hours!"

"I need to find a new job."

"What?! You're father fired you? Over something that wasn't even your fault?" She asked he could hear the anger rising in her voice,

"No I quit."

"Oh," there was a pause, "Are you sure that's the best thing? Or what you really want?" Steve let out a sigh finally coming up to his room,

"No but, everything is my fault." She could hear the despair in his voice.

"No it's not. I can name 200 things off the top of my head that aren't your fault." Steve raised an eyebrow even though she couldn't see it.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Global warming for one." Steven rolled his eyes. "The fact that I now have more game time than work time this week." He shook his head. "But, if you want I can skip all that and tell you what really is your fault." Her voice was so casual about it. The grip on his HOHO tightened,

"What?"

"The fact that we met. Or the fact that I care about you. Or how you make me happy even when you aren't here. How you make me feel like I matter even though I don't have a family." He could hear all of her emotion behind it and it made him smile.

"Thank you."

"Oh no I wasn't done." Her voice completely serious. "But since you keep interrupting me I guess you don't want to know." He could hear the tease in her voice. Shaking his head with a smile,

"Hey do you want to spend some time together?" He asked slowly, "Maybe I could stay at your place for a bit? Or you could tell me a good hotel to stay at." He tried to correct smacking his forehead.


	6. Envious Tell All

She heard Steve let out a loud gasp, startling her.

"What is it?" She asked threw her headset.

"No." She heard him let out in a gasp.

"Steve is it a bad time?"

"Hold on Abby." He answered running around his room, "I can't believe he would do this!" He complained, Abigail decided to wait before asking questions, obviously he just need to rant right now. "He doesn't even know how to drive it!" He whined, shaking her long brown hair she just waited for him to finish. Not even a few minutes later she could hear him running down the halls of his house and a computer voice ring out,

"S-1 dented." Squinting her eyes she was getting ready to ask before,

"Sir. Sir!" Was exclaimed by another male voice,

"Was that Peter? I thought he was just a work buddy. I didn't think you two lived together. Wait I thought you said you lived with your parents?" Abigail asked completely confused now.

"Big scratch down side." The computer went on.

"Steven?"

"Popped out to take present." She could tell he was reading off of something, a loud scratching noise interrupted him, "Turkey sandwich in fridge. Mum and Dad." A few grunts was heard before, "That idiot, Arthur. He's sent everyone crazy. He'll destroy Christmas." Abigail shook her head but, once again decided that keeping quiet was the better option to get things out of Steve. She heard Peter call out,

"And you'll never get to be Santa."

"Wait." She squinted her eyes replaying what Peter had just said a few times in her head while listening to Steve mutter and grumble all while sounding like he was getting thrown around.

"Oh Steven!" She heard his father call.

"You've dented it!" Steve yelled out causing her to flinch away from the noise, "You take it out without asking?"

"Malcolm, you told me he knew." She heard the Misses scold, in-spite of everything Abigail found herself grinning. She always did like that woman. "You know how Steve feels about his S-1." _Oh so his dad is taking out his plane or whatever he said it was. . . actually he never did say for sure what it was. _She almost wanted to scratch her head at that but, didn't instead focused on the conversation she wasn't even for sure if she should be hearing.

"It's my S-1." Steve let out a grunt, "S for 'Santa'." Abigail's eyes narrowed again. _Great the first good guy I date for a few years and him and his whole family is a bunch of loons._ She let out a groan looking around for her phone to hang up on him.

"Of course she's all that matters. Not me, your son." She could hear the letdown in his voice, it stopped her search short. "Not the 2 billion things I did right tonight." The hurt was clear in his voice now. "No!" He drug out the o a tad. Her search was renewed thinking she shouldn't hear this conversation that was to come between father and son. "I was 8. You're my dad!" Clearly she missed something that was said then berated herself for listening in at all. After a few minutes she let out a huff right as Steve let out, "Thank you." She chewed on her bottom lip.

"Uh Steve?" She started until he continued obviously not talking to her,

"So since gift delivery to child 4 double 7 85BXK is all that seems to matter, I'll do it myself. Then will pick up Arthur and Grand-Santa from what ever ditch they've ended up in, and then I will go and get my girlfriend and bring her here as well." She could feel his attention shift back to her, "If you want to come over to my house and let me explain everything you just heard."

"You were on the phone!" His mother started to scold,

"If he would have asked I wouldn't of gotten caught up in the middle of my call!" He whined to her. Abigail let out a sigh,

"I would love to hear how you think you can explain everything I just heard. How long am I staying for?" She could hear the smile in his voice, but also the question more than likely aimed at his mother,

"For as long as you like?" There was a pause, "Yeah for as long as you like." Abby let out a huff,

"Fine, I'll be ready in 3 hours. I have things I have to do first. Besides it sounds like you will be taking awhile anyways. If you somehow get here early you will have to wait."

"I'll be there as soon as I can. I'll see you-" She hung up on him finally having found her damn phone.

"God! I'm in love with a lunatic!" She yelled out to her apartment before walking back over to her desktop. "You better hope I don't have trouble with it this time!" She yelled to her ceiling before rapidly typing. After 2 hours she turned it off. "Darn it all!" She yelled looking at the clock on the wall. Quickly she ran to her bedroom pulling out her laptop case and duffel bag. "He made it sound like it was bad weather a lot where he lives so I might be stuck for a day or two." Quickly she ran to her closet. Pulling it open she made a face, "I'm calling him a loon but, I'm the one talking to no one. Why am I still doing it?" She asked confusion covering her face shaking her head she pulled out 3 sweaters, 4 tank-top's, 2 long sleeve shirts, 2 short sleeved shirts, her pair of black knee high boots and her pair of ankle black boots. Throwing it all on her bed in a rush. Running over to her dresser she open drawers and pulled out other things throwing it all on the bed. Shoving it all into the duffel she ran to the bathroom jumping into the shower. After doing everything she normally did while taking shower but, at a slightly accelerated pace she toweled off and got dressed, after brushing her teeth, and while she was combing her hair, Steve called.

"Abigail? We are almost there, and I know it's," She heard him sigh, "really rude but, my mother would love to meet you before the ride back. Would it be okay if we came in?" Abigail looked around her small apartment.

"Uh, can you give me like 10 more minutes? I'm in the middle of brushing my hair. I at least want to look okay before I meet your family." She could hear the smile in Steve's voice,

"Oh no, no that's fine! I'll give you 15 if you want to be sure?"

"Umm yeah sure sure. Busy talk when you get here." Quickly she hung up the phone again only now running around her house to get tea and snacks ready all while grumbling to herself.

"Well?" Margaret asked him with a smile on her face.

"She uh needs a few minutes but, we can go down. After 15 minutes."

"Oh good. Grand-Santa I brought you some clothes. Arthur here is a sweater, and Malcolm dear you can't go and meet her in that suite. Here, I brought some clothes for you as well." She started, "I'm sure once everyone has changed it will have been enough time as well." She smiled while handing out everything. "Steve I didn't bring anything for you though." She hummed while looking at him.

"This is fine mother."

"Oh good." After a few more minutes all the Santa's came back into the bridge room. "Now will this be okay here while we are in there?"

"Yes mother."


	7. Neurological Failure

It had been 20 minutes since Steve had called. She just got everything out and ready when there was a knock on her front door. Letting out a sigh she shook her head looking down at the poor snacks. She had popped a bag of pop corn, well technically 4 and threw them in a bowl and had 6 cups out with the tea still on the stove. Quickly she walked over to the door, opening it she saw Steve smiling at her,

"Abigail!" He started going in for a hug, quickly she dodged it by opening the door further,

"Hello Steve. I take it this is your mother?" She asked going to shake the woman's hand.

"Why hello dear!" The older woman smiled at her. Abigail smiled back while showing them into her house. Steve's face went blank. He really needed her support right now, letting out a sigh he ran a hand down his face. He still had to explain everything to her.

"I'm sorry I don't have more out. I wasn't expecting company." She smiled motioning to the table with popcorn and cookies.

"Oh its fine darling! We didn't expect anything considering we came a bit unannounced, which I am sorry for I just had to meet the girl Steve went on about." Steve face palmed again.

"Were is your family? Shouldn't you be spending the holidays with them?" Arthur asked looking around the small apartment, Steve flinched watching as her whole body went rigid. She turned around smiling though,

"I don't know where my family is. I'm an orphan never got adopted either." Arthur looked down ashamed of himself,

"I am so sorry. I didn't-"

"It's okay. You didn't know." She interrupted him, "Now Steve I have a few bags of things I need you to help me with." She glared at him, letting out a sigh he smiled at his family before walking off. Shutting her bedroom door she whisper yelled at him,

"What in the world do you think you are doing?! Inviting yourself and your family into my home! On Christmas of all days! And clearly you haven't told them anything about me! I should kill you!"

"Abigail listen! I know there is a lot I need to explain!"

"You're right! Start with the Santa business!" She practically growled at him.

"It's a long story." At her pointed glare he started anyways, "My family is the Clauses. Santa is the title passed down from father to son starting with Nicolas." Abigail shut her eyes shaking her head,

"That wasn't long at all." She said picking up her laptop and charger putting it in the case. "You're a bunch of loons and I'm going to go on a ride with you which means I'm insane as well." She huffed pulling out wrapped boxes from the closest. "Here, _Santa_," She sneered, "Take these out there. Might as well give them to them now."

"See," He started while grabbing the gifts from her, "I'm not Santa. My brother is going to be." She turned sharply on him,

"Then what is that suite for?" She asked raking her eyes up and down him. _He doesn't look bad in a suite, hell he doesn't look bad in anything._ Her face flushed dark red as she whipped back around. Her face color calmed at the tone in his voice,

"I was supposed to be, but then stuff happened and Arthur is better for it and it was the one thing I wanted and I had the chance to just take it from him but, I'm not any good with kids or anything like that and." He let out a sigh, "I just feel like I'm not good for anything right now." He lifted his head as Abby let out a sigh,

"Well since we are all clearly insane let's just say for a few moments I believe you. I'm sure you do something to help everyone with the whole Santa thing. You did to 2 billion things right, though I'm not sure if that is an exaggeration or if its insanity talking there." Her eyes went up and down him again, "And I have to say that if you were Santa you would be the sexiest Santa I've ever seen." She grinned before her eyes got wide, "I mean cause you know, most the time it's old guys in suites and they are fat. No offense to your insane family people or whatever." She held up her hands. Steve smiled ear to ear,

"You think I'm sexy?"

"Well, yes but, yeah." She said lamely while running around her room grabbing any last few nick knacks she might need. "Go give them the damn presents I need to pack bathroom stuff. I have a feeling Imma be locked in a looney bin after this so I want all of my stuff with me when I go there." She nodded to him before running out the door. Steve had a goofy smile on his face until he walked out the door and handed everyone their gift. After his hands were empty he realized she didn't get him one. Sitting on the couch he just waited there for her.

"Okay sorry about the wait. I am ready to go as soon as you are." She smiled walking over to the coat hanger and putting on her jacket then coat then small hat. "But I have to ask, what are we riding in and where are we going?"

"The S-1" His father smiled,

"To the North Pole!" Arthur gleamed,

"You have a house on the North Pole?"

"It's more of under it. Honestly it would be easier to show you rather than explain." Steve said motioning to the door where his family filed out. He watched as Abigail shook her head and went to grab all of her bags. Well there was just a laptop case, a duffel, a back pack and a purse. He grabbed the duffel for her and went to grab the back pack but she had already grabbed that and the other 2.

"Well lets go then." she sighed walking out of the door. Steve chuckled as she went to go down the stairs.

"No, we are going up to the roof." He watched as her face paled,

"You-you have a helicopter?" The stutter in her voice made him chuckle,

"No I have an S-1. It's more of a UFO really." She glared at him,

"Oh so now not only are you from a long line of Santa's you are also aliens?" Steve just laughed,

"No, just come on let me show you." He grabbed her arm and gently pulled her up the stairs. Once they were finally on the roof Abigail looked around,

"Where did your family go?" She asked the only thing she spotted was two tiny Christmas tree outlines standing up on the roof. Looking closer she could see a wire attached to each one and going up. Quickly her gaze followed up the wire to see a bright spot in the sky, "You are aliens! And this is some weird complicated abduction thing!" She yelled turning around,

"Abigail! Why would aliens go to all this trouble?" Steve sighed following her, she stopped,

"I know what's going on here. I fell asleep waiting for you." She nodded her head before turning around. "So since I'm dreaming lets skip the part where I'm on that." She pointed to the small foothold. Steve shook his head,

"I think you're afraid of heights. Come on." He sighed picking her up. She started screaming,

"No Steve! You're insane! I'm not going on that thing to go way up there!" She hollored at him beating on his back with her free hand.

"Abby stop. You trust me don't you?"

"I did!" She screeched as he stepped on it and it started to rapidly rise. "Don't you drop me! I'll come back and haunt you forever!" She cried. They were inside when she finished, "I don't want to die." She cried latching onto him tighter squeezing her eyes shut. He tried to push her back not thinking she would be this afraid of it.

"Abby? Abby look at me. You're fine."

"No I'm not Steven." She cried further.

"My goodness Steven! What did you do to her?" Margaret asked coming over to the crying girl. "What is wrong dear?" She asked pulling, or trying, to pull her away from Steve.

"I'm up to high." She squeaked digging her nails into him.

"Abigail you are fine. Just look at me for a second." Steve tried to coax,

"You're more of a frightened Freddy than Arthur." Grand-Santa laughed patting her on the back. She yipped and jumped up on Steve latching onto him and almost making him fall over. Steve let out a sigh.

"Abby I won't let you fall. The S-1 is completely safe." She sniffled a bit but, didn't let go.

"Abby? Can I call you Abby? It's okay. I know how you feel. I'm scared of heights too. But if you open your eyes you aren't really up high. Look." Arthur tried to coax almost knowing how the poor woman felt. "If you look it really looks more like a factory floor, safe on the ground." Slowly she pulled her head from out of Steven's neck and even more slowly opened on eye looking around. He felt her relax slightly and move to climb down. Steve was a little put off, he couldn't comfort her and Arthur could. Was there anything he was good at anymore? Abigail felt Steve deflate underneath her arms. She looked up at him, he could still see the fear in her eyes and felt horrible, he hadn't even thought about it when he took her up.

"Where am I?"

"This is, basically as Arthur put it, the factory floor. Where the elves and Santa make the drops for the presents." Steve motioned around, "There are screens at each station to show the elf which house they are going to deliver to as well." He tried to blather on about anything besides how high up they were. He felt Abigail's eyes on him, "What?"

"So you're telling me the guy I wrote to when I was little was your dad?" She asked pulling away but never letting go of him, "And you all are the Clauses?" Everyone besides Steve nodded smiling at her,

"Yep! I'm dead. You dropped me didn't you?" She glared at Steve, he let out a sigh.

"Will you believe me if I show you my room at the North Pole? Or mission control? I can show you a few videos as well." He said pulling out his big red cellphone. She latched onto him again,

"Steven, I'm scared to fly. I don't want to." She whispered while trembling.

"I have to fly there though. Do you want to watch me fly and see how safe and fast it is?" He added the fast remembering it was something she loved to do, drive fast, close enough though right? She viciously shook her head no. "Abby I'm the only one who knows how to drive this properly. If you want to get back on the ground quickly and safely I have to go fly the S-1 home."

"You're not leaving me." Steve smiled down at her,

"Of course not Abby but, you do need to let me go to the cockpit."

"Are there seats there?"

"Yes."

"With seat belts?" He chuckled,

"Yes."

"Okay." She said pushing him forward, slowly and carefully he made his way up to the bridge, once there he guided her over to a seat and she sat down placing her stuff in the seat next to her. He put in his home address and started to fly but, as soon as he did he was practically tackled by Abigail who had once again latched onto him. Wrapping his arm around her he pushed the throttle down. Looking down at her he could see she was looking at all of the buttons. Grinning, he knew how good she was with tech he started to explain what each thing did. It wasn't annoying like it had been to teach the elves she got it most of it on the first explanation. Though she didn't want to try and drive it either. After 30 minutes they were at the North Pole and he was setting it down in the water to take it to the garage. She let out a squeal when it dipped down towards the water, shoving her face into his chest.

"Abigail we are fine. See?" He asked as it came back up inside the giant cave. All the elves were waiting for them. She heard a cheer and lifted her head to look around,

"What was that?"

"Those blasted elves! Make a ruckus all the time." Grand-Santa grumbled slowly making his way out of the bridge. Abigail raised an eyebrow at Steve,

"Uh dad?" He called,

"Yes Steven?"

"Would you tell them we have a," There was a slight pause, "new visitor?" He questioned while raising an eyebrow not really sure how to word it.

"Oh yes! Of course son!" His father smiled before walking out of the room.

"You don't really have elves here do you?" She asked walking over to pick up her things, Steve grabbed her arm stopping her,

"Yes there are elves here. Peter is an elf. Would you at least give me a hug? I could really use it after everything I've gone threw tonight." He whined at her while twisting her around to face him. She raised both of her eyebrows at him looking up threw her lashes.

"I don't know what you've gone threw that's worse than facing 2 of your biggest and only fears," She drawled out, he didn't like the look on her face as she slowly got closer to his, "But your too tall. Lean down." She pouted, raising a brow he did, quickly she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss. It wasn't to long but, it wasn't short either. "I need another shower." She stated turning back around to grab her things. Steve grabbed her arm again spinning her back around to give her another kiss, this one longer and deeper. He tilted her back just a bit, his arm holding her up. She moaned lightly into the kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck again, opening her mouth slightly. Quickly he took advantage of it and pushed his tongue into her mouth, giving a few gentle swipes against her own before exploring the rest of her mouth. After a few more seconds he had to pull away for air. He looked down to see she had a faint smile on her face.

"Now we can leave." He smiled going to grab her stuff. Quickly she grabbed her laptop case and purse while he had everything else.

"I'm insane, your a loon. And now I'm going to see elves?" She asked walking next to him toward a big ramp.

"I'm not a loon. Yes you're going to see elves." He motioned around going down the ramp. She had stopped at the top just staring at all of the little elves jumping around and yelling in happiness. Steve stopped when he heard her drop her purse, turning around he started to run back up the ramp. Abigail was normally a collect person. She could handle most things with stride that other people could only gawk at. Today how ever was not one of those days, just having been forced up very, very, high and being made to fly, her brain decided it needed a break from all the stimuli it was getting and promptly shut down. Steve watched her tip precariously as he was running up toward her. He prayed she wouldn't tip over before he got there, it wasn't like he was really far away it just seemed like everything had started to happen in slow motion. He could hear the collective gasp from all the elves and his family as they watched her tip forward. Steve caught her about half-way threw her fall. Gently he shook her,

"Abby?" He patted her face, "Abby?" He called again, "Abigail wake up!" After she didn't respond he got a look of panic on his face and looked up and at his mother, "Mum!"


	8. Epic Endings

The first thing Abigail noticed was that she felt really warm, like someone was next to her. The next thing she realized was that someone was next to her, holding her tightly against their chest. Thirdly she noticed that she was laying down. Quickly she sat up and tried to pull away from who ever had snuck into her house while letting out a scream.

"Abby!" Steve yelled trying to grab her arms before she hit him again. "Abby calm down! You passed out. We are in my room." He tried to remain calm while talking to her. She stopped her struggling,

"Steven?" She looked around, "This isn't my room. Where are we?" He shook his head, his mother had said she would be a bit dazed and confused,

"We are in my room. You're safe." He watched as pale hands came up to cover her face,

"Oh god, it wasn't a dream. I saw elves." She lifted her head, "And worst of all I passed out!" She almost whined, Steve turned her to face him,

"Are you okay?" He asked looking her up and down, watching as she slowly let her hands slide down the front of her body. Looking back up he could see the panic brewing in her eyes again. "Abby calm down. Breath." He tried while holding onto her shoulders, "You're safe. I'm here." He watched as she took a deep breath in then let it out. "Do you know where you are?" He asked slowly, her panic look quickly turned to one of anger,

"I'm panicking not stupid. You just said we are in you're room." Her eyebrows went up just a little bit as she looked around the room. "It's very, white." She stated.

"Okay, what's the last thing you remember?" He tried still talking slowly, she turned glaring at him.

"This conversation and how pointless it is. Before that I was at home, then you and your family came over. I went to the roof," She shivered, "You made me go up really, _really_ high," Her voice went up a few octaves on the second really. "I was abducted." She nodded her head, "And the little grey aliens are actually little elves." Steve looked down letting out a sigh as she pulled away she went to place her bare feet on the floor only to let out a little squeal and pull them back up on the bed, "What the hell? Why is it so cold?" Steve smiled to her,

"It is the North Pole." He watched as she hugged her feet close to her body,

"Now I'm really cold." She stated while shivering and rubbing her hands up and down her arms. Steve scooted closer to her,

"Come here." He said while pulling her close and pulling the blanket down. "Mother said you should take it easy for a little while." She cuddled into him while yawning.

"How long was I out?"

"Not to long. About 40 minutes maybe 45." He shrugged, thoroughly enjoying her snuggled up close to him. "I think we should just go to bed, it's been a rough day for both of us." He stated while fighting the urge to yawn as well, rolling onto his back she followed after him. Using his chest as a pillow and entwining one of her legs into his.

"Yeah." She said in a sleepy manner. "We'll talk later." She poked his chest before rubbing her cheek against his shirt and slowly drifting off into sleep. He grinned wrapping his arm around her slowly falling to sleep as well.


End file.
